


The Usual Debate

by The_Winter_Straw



Series: Straw's Super-Amazing Fantastic Quarantine Request Booklet Extravaganza [1]
Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, POV Second Person, Reader-Insert, Slap Slap Kiss, Tenth Walker, post-Breaking of the Fellowship, tenth walker reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:48:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24220846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Winter_Straw/pseuds/The_Winter_Straw
Summary: Legolas and his "helpful suggestions" can go jump in Mount Doom with that Ring.
Relationships: Legolas Greenleaf/Reader
Series: Straw's Super-Amazing Fantastic Quarantine Request Booklet Extravaganza [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1748251
Comments: 3
Kudos: 81





	The Usual Debate

**Author's Note:**

> I'm writing request one shots for people as a way to distract others and myself from the quarantine going on. Kinda falling behind at this point due to my city becoming a hot spot (we made the national news, woo) when my father is a hospital doctor and thus has to be around COVID-19 positive patients every day for hours, but I'm trying to get back on the wagon. Feel free to submit requests of your own. You can either send me a biography for an OC, or ask for a character to be paired with reader while providing me with a brief prompt. Requests can be submitted as a comment here, or you can send me an ask on my Tumblr (anon or otherwise), mostlyiloathendgamesteve.
> 
> Originally I was going to stick to ficlets, but I suck at ficlets, so one shots it is. This is a re-write. These probably won't be my best work given my anxiety, but I assure you that I am doing my best...even though even at my best I do not claim to have any talent when it comes to writing for _The Lord of the Rings._
> 
> This first request is from Captain Batman Lecter /punklefish on Quotev. 
> 
> **Prompt:** Dúnedain!Reader always fights with Legolas, which Aragon finds amusing.

There was very little that could be said had improved about your situation as the sun set that day over the land of Rohan. The return of Gandalf; the knowledge that Pippin and Merry were as safe as anyone could be; even the fact that you would have a roof over your head that night, provided by King Théoden—all seemed very small victories in comparison to the storm rising to meet you. Inside Meduseld, many of the Rohirrim continued to celebrate the return of their king to health. Their people had always been that way. Even the knowledge that many of you would leave the following morning could not staunch their joy. Such a feeling turned out to be infectious. For the first time since Boromir's passing, you felt some happiness yourself despite the bleak days you knew remained ahead. 

Unfortunately, this feeling was not to last. Éowyn bid you goodnight after several hours of conversation, and near the instant she left, her vacated place became filled with the only member of your party that could always ruin your mood. 

" _Please_ go away," you told him. "I have had an uncommonly nice day, and I should prefer to end it that way." 

Legolas smiled. Seeing him do so caused _something_ inside you to burn, as it always did. "Come now, [Name]. If you're enjoying yourself so much, let us not quarrel." 

"That's an impossibility with _you_ around." 

"And why do you believe that?" 

"Because you and I _always_ quarrel." 

This was and always had been true. Aragorn knew Legolas much better than you; he had been the one to _introduce_ you to the prince of Mirkwood years ago, and since that day you and Legolas had rarely shared a kind word between you. You knew enough about behaving yourself to keep your distance from Legolas. He, on the other hand, seemed to delight in raising your temper. If he was not going to leave, you needed drink. Much to your displeasure, you found upon lifting your mug that there was nothing left inside it. 

"You are very strange for a Dúnedain. Have I told you this before?" he asked conversationally. 

You stopped your search for a serving boy to look at the elf. "If you have, I purposely forgot so. What do you _mean_ that I am strange?" 

"Only that you are a woman working as a Ranger—" 

"I assure you that I am hardly such an aberration. There are plenty of female Dúnedain where I come from. The issue is that of us you have only met myself and Aragorn." 

"—and also that you rely much more heavily on drink than _any_ Dúnedain I have met." 

"Aragorn does not count. He is of more noble blood than I. You cannot pretend to me that you yourself do not drink either. Have you forgotten that I have seen you before in Rivendell?" 

"That is not the same." 

"Do _not_ start that up again." 

Only an elf could so swiftly rearrange his features into a blank mask. Having been around quite a few elves (and all less irritating than the one before you just then) during your lifetime, you were not convinced. Legolas did not fool you any further by saying in his soft, musical voice, "I'm afraid I do not know what it is you are referring to." 

"Yes, you do. You want to start reminding me that elves and everything they create are better than anything the rest of us could dream up. I'm not going to listen to that swill." 

"How can the truth be swill?" 

"That's it. I think I shall head to bed myself. Please let Aragorn know where I am if he comes looking." 

"There's no need. I already came over to see this unusual pairing." 

Sure enough, Aragorn materialized beside you with all his usual skill. He looked from you to Legolas with such an expression that you normally would have snapped at him over it. Indeed, it was an unusual expression for your serious king and occasional companion, probably brought on by the general atmosphere of cheer pervasive in Rohan that night. Because it was Rohan—and its king remained nearby—you knew better than to display any sort of flippancy. 

"Well met, Aragorn," Legolas greeted him. "Would you care to join us? It would make our coupling less unusual if nothing else." 

"I would be pleased to—unless you still wish to head for your chambers, [Name]?" Aragorn asked. 

You sank back onto the bench with a murderous glance at the elf. All he wanted was to torment you further, and he knew you could not properly retaliate with Aragorn sitting next to you as well. Would Legolas' cruelties know no end? 

"Now, what was it that you two were discussing before I arrived?" Aragorn asked, in as close to an airy tone as he could manage. 

"Her drinking problem," Legolas said, at the exact same time you said: 

"How he still thinks elves are better than the rest of us." 

Aragorn's lips quirked still further upward. "Do not allow Gimli to overhear you saying that. He's only just began to view you as a friend." 

"Now if only I could get [Name] to do so." 

"Stranger things have happened on this journey." 

"And my growing to enjoy Legolas' company would be the strangest yet," you put in sourly. "How was your conversation with Théoden, Aragorn?" 

"Not nearly as entertaining as this one. Allow to me to spend a few minutes tonight not speaking of war, [Name]." 

"Anytime she is near, war is very close," Legolas said. 

"Too true." 

"If I am to be continually insulted and outnumbered, perhaps I ought to go to bed after all," you grumbled. 

Aragorn prevented you leaving by momentarily placing his hand over yours that rested on the table. "No, [Name], stay. I apologize. The good news we have gotten today has simply cheered me more than it ought to have. I did not mean to interrupt your time with Legolas." 

"You were not interrupting. I do not take pleasure in his company, as you readily know." 

"And _I_ readily know that that isn't true." Legolas smiled. 

"Then perhaps you are not nearly as smart as you believe elves to be. I cannot imagine that my behavior toward you in all this time has deluded you into believing that I could like being around you." 

"I think it is you that are not as smart as you believe. Perhaps elves are not higher than all other creatures, but in this case alone I will say that we might understand emotions better than _some_ humans. _My_ behavior should leave no question as to my feelings, and yet they do." Before you had the chance to form a retort, Legolas got gracefully to his feet and settled his clear blue eyes on Aragorn. "We leave early, I assume, so I shall bid you farewell for now. There is some meditation I would like to do before we are on the road again. It is something you might wish to try, [Name]." 

"You—" 

He disappeared. You stared after him, unable to so much as form an insult great enough to hurl after him. Any attempts to do were soon interrupted by an actual _chuckle_ coming from your right. Looking there, you saw that _Aragon_ had made the sound, though he quickly wiped all traces of mirth from his face. 

"He's right, you realize," he told you. 

"Right about what?" 

"Never mind." Aragorn rose himself. "I will say this: You do not have to rise to his bait each and every time he offers it to you. In doing so, you only give Legolas what he wants. I shall turn in now myself. Be prepared for a long ride tomorrow. If you like, you could try meditating on what Legolas said this evening. It might make you more amenable to him in the future." 

With such false hope in front of him, Aragorn left you. You yourself remained stewing at the table long after both men had gone. Meditate? On just one more thing Legolas said to rile you up? Doing so was entirely unnecessary when you already knew that no amount of meditation was ever going to get you to be more amenable to that elf, no matter how much Aragorn might have wished it.


End file.
